Sunday, September 12, 2010

After moving houses, pouring foundations, and sloowly lowering the houses to ground level, what shall we do? well, what about smashing all the walls and ceilings? besides being everyone's dream work day (don't do this at home now), that's what needs to be done to retrofit the houses with state-of-the-art insulation, and to reshape rooms
to meet the new household
design.

The long hours and the intense work-out did not deter the brave volunteers,
who hammered, pulled, tossed, scraped, slashed, moved, banged, sawed, and carried wheelbarrows with great skill and virtue. Long repressed frustrations vanished each time the hammed shattered the plaster. Growls, cheers, and songs filled the balmy air.

All interspersed with music, games, great food, and alien jokes! 43 volunteers were hammering away on saturday, about 30 on sunday. The result? interior walls stripped
to the studs, ceilings too, old insulation and wiring taken out. All waste materials were separated and recycled. Doors and trims were saved for reuse.

Thanks to everyone that came out, you made a big difference and we hope you had a great time. Stay tuned for the next event! In the meantime, I think we all earned a looong stretch of sleep, so good night!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

When Sunwise started raising four chicks this past Spring, no one knew what to expect. No one, that is, except our neighbor Scarlet's little nephew. You see, Scarlet was helping us raise the four chicks, and named each one of them according to their color. Except her nephew insisted this little dark chick be called Pete, despite the supposed near-guarantee that they were all hens. Well, he knew.

Little Pete grew and grew, and soon none of us could deny that cock-a-doodle-do in the morning or the way he strutted around the coop. Roosters aren't exactly included in regulations, and his morning habits would soon prove a challenge to many.

We tried many things. He was carefully boxed up in the coop each night, to be released only at a decent hour. We spoke to local farms to see if they would take him, but none could promise that more than a stew-pot awaited. We resigned ourself to his fate and scheduled a good friend to come over and give him the final rites of his kind.

Then on the same day, the student farm replied that they had recently lost their rooster! Pete was saved! This morning, Derek took the lucky bird to his new home. Derek writes:

The Pete saga (as far as Sunwise goes) is over. He has had many firsts today:

first time being caught as an adult

first time being put in a box

first time in a car in a box

first time in a moving car in a box

first time he did not make any sounds for more than 30 minutes

first time seeing his new home (Ecological Garden at Student Farm....who knows, maybe you'll hear him if you are on that side of campus)

first time he gets his wings clipped (I have a feather for each of you)